Lively, who was instrumental in bringing the AT&T Performing Arts Center to life and Super Bowl XLV to fruition, is moving to Washington, D.C., this fall to lead a historic fundraising campaign for the National Geographic Society.

He plans to raise hundreds of millions of dollars for the 124-year-old scientific, exploration and educational institution.

“I see this as my last mountain,” the 68-year-old says about his job as senior vice president of development. “Their new strategic plan is a representation of great big dreams. That’s what attracted me.” Lively will help find sponsors and donations for construction, renovation, mission expansion, research and exploration.

“It’s as if I’ve been preparing my whole career for an adventure of this type and this magnitude,” says Lively, an avid climber and hiker who is devoted to conservation and education.

The folks at National Geographic agree.

“From what we’ve heard about Bill, we’re thinking about enlarging the pond in front of our building so he can walk across it,” laughs Betty Hudson, executive vice president. “We have some big hopes and dreams that will require significant philanthropic support. Bill brings this remarkable confluence of experience and thoughtfulness about how you can organize yourself to maximize those opportunities.”

John Fahey, chief executive of National Geographic, announced Lively’s appointment internally and to the board of trustees last week, just three months after meeting him.

“For those of us who sit around the table here inside the Beltway, Bill’s a very different type of person,” Fahey says. “You only have to spend a little time with Bill Lively, and you become a fan. I felt, ‘Gee, not only does he have a great track record, but he is very serious about making a difference and getting the job done.’”

Lively was in Washington on Wednesday and Thursday to meet with the board, senior managers and the development staff to get a better handle on the task at hand.

“I didn’t know what to expect,” he says. “But the intellectual firepower, dedication and substance of the board of trustees and the senior staff lived up to the organization. Sometimes that’s not the case. Nat Geo’s [development] staff appears to be people who approach their work more as missionaries than employees.”

‘I was spent’

A year ago, Lively abruptly quit as president and CEO of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra after two months on the job. Many speculated that he was fleeing a cultural and financial hornet’s nest.

But 17 consecutive years of 70- to 90-hour workweeks raising a total of $646 million for Southern Methodist University, the performing arts center and the Super Bowl had taken their toll.

“The real reason is I was spent,” he says of his DSO departure. “I didn’t have the strength or the energy to tackle it.”

Lively was also worried about his health. He’d lost weight and had constant headaches. Two younger brothers had suffered strokes, and one of them died at 56. Extensive medical testing showed that Lively was just run down.

So last April, he and his wife, Mickey, retreated to their three-bedroom log cabin in Estes Park, Colo., where they read books, hiked and watched wildlife from their front porch.

Three months later, a re-energized Lively agreed to help Lee Jackson, chancellor of the University of North Texas System, develop fundraising strategies, including the school’s first multimillion-dollar campaign for its flagship campus in Denton.

In December, Lively told Jackson that he was retiring after the academic year and heading back to Colorado.

He said the same thing to Roger Enrico, who laughed.

“I said to Bill, ‘You need to go to National Geographic and raise a billion dollars. Make it like Yale or Harvard in terms of endowment,’” recalls the former chief executive of PepsiCo who sits on National Geographic’s board of trustees. “You know how Bill only thinks in big numbers. His eyes perked up, and I thought, ‘Oh, my gosh. I’ve hit on a nerve here.’”

Lively didn’t take the number seriously, but the job intrigued him.

The next time Enrico was in Washington, he told Fahey that he knew the perfect guy to replace the society’s retiring head of development.

Two years ago, Lively helped filmmaker Ken Burns create a national donor society after traditional sponsors disappeared in the recession. The Better Angel Society, named after Abraham Lincoln’s first inaugural speech, now has chapters throughout the country that help fund Burns’ documentaries. Lively is chairman of its national board.

Changing landscape

National Geographic raises about $20 million a year through donations and sponsorships. Its renowned magazine, books, TV channel, films and other media products bring in more than 95 percent of the nonprofit’s nearly $600 million in revenue, Fahey says. But revenue from these sources is likely to decline.

“We’ve got all this wonderful stuff on the media side, but the media landscape is changing,” Fahey says. “There is clearly more need to be as aggressive as possible because we want to make sure we can still do the exploration, grant-making and educational programs we are known for.”

As for Enrico’s billion-dollar goal, Fahey quips: “Well, Roger could be the front end of that.”

Lively plans to spend the summer traveling back and forth between Colorado and Washington so that when he and Mickey move to the capital in the fall, he can hit the ground running.

He sees this as a three- to four-year commitment for him and his wife. “Mick is ecstatic about this. If she weren’t, I wouldn’t be doing it. She told me, ‘This is a chance of a lifetime, Bill.’”

The Livelys sold their home in Preston Hollow and leased a condominium north of Northwest Highway. But they won’t be spending much time there. They plan to live full time in Washington and travel to Colorado as often as possible.

“We’ll come back to Dallas from time to time, but I suspect my days here will be very limited,” he says.